Page 47 of Fast Vengeance

Taggart gave her a tight, relieved smile. “Thank you. I’ll start making arrangements on my end now and confirm everything with you once you arrive.”

“All right.”

She walked out of the meeting in a daze, trailing behind one of her marshals. Her phone rang. She pulled it out, her heart tripping when she saw Gabe’s number, and ducked around the corner for a moment’s privacy. The marshal continued on another dozen or so paces before stopping, giving her some room. “Hi,” she said on a sigh, aching to hear his voice.

“You don’t have to do this. It’s dangerous. Maybe more dangerous than anything you’ve faced so far because we can’t control what happens down here,” he said in a clipped tone.

He must have been in the room with Taggart and overheard everything. “It’s a plane ride and a few phone calls. It’s the least I can do for Brock.”

“It’s way more than that, and you know it.”

Yes. So much could go wrong between now and then. Her father had eyes and ears everywhere throughout Mexico, even in the government and law enforcement. Money and threats against family members helped keep corruption strong in her homeland.

There was even a chance that someone in the room with Taggart right now could leak her impending arrival and she might walk into a trap when she arrived back on Mexican soil. But what was the alternative? Letting Brock be tortured to death?

“I have to do it.” Oceane thought of Victoria and what she must be going through right now, knowing Brock had been taken captive by the cartel that had cost her so much.

It was so unfair. And sad. Victoria had suffered so much. Even more than Oceane had. She couldn’t imagine ever recovering from the kind of loss and abuse her friend had suffered. Why shouldn’t Victoria be able to find some happiness after all she’d been through? Why couldn’t people like them have a happily ever after?

The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the sons.

Or in her case, daughters.

“You don’t have to,” Gabe argued.

“Gabe, please. I need to do this. Don’t you see? I owe it to Brock. My mother. To Victoria. And I owe it to myself. I want to save Brock if I can. I want to help put my father away. It’s time for me to be brave. If I walk away from this chance I’ll never be able to live with myself going forward.”

His hard sigh came through the line, full of frustration. “Dammit, I knew you’d say that.”

She gave a wobbly smile, even though he couldn’t see her. “You know me so well. And also, it’s really good to hear your voice right now.”

He was silent a moment. “There’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”

She put a hand to her bubbling stomach, blew out a shaky breath. She was scared to death. But this was the right thing to do. If she wanted to be able to live with herself, then she had to see this thing through. “No. But I’m going to have you and the rest of FAST Bravo there to have my back, right?” She waited a beat and when he didn’t answer right away the fear grew. Right?

“Yeah. We’ll have your back every step of the way.”

The twisting in her gut eased a little, and her heart squeezed at the intensity in his voice. He cared about her. A lot more than he’d let on whenever they spent time together. It touched her deeply, because she was falling for him and was glad to know she might not have done it alone. “Good. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay. Be safe.”

“I will.” She sighed and lowered the phone.

It was finally time to go home. Face her demons head on.

And slay them if she got the chance.

****

“Miss Gomez, will you stay a minute?” Taggart asked her as Oceane and a few others left the room.

Victoria paused in the act of pushing up from her chair and sat back down again. “Of course.”

Taggart waited until it was just her, her security and a few other officials. “Would you be willing to accompany Oceane down here?”

She hid her surprise, her pulse jumping. “Yes, absolutely.”

“I know you two are close, and I think she’d feel better if you came with her. Also, in terms of intel, you’re the best insider source on the Veneno players we’re after. There might be something you know that could give us a lead. It would mean postponing your move tomorrow, but I feel you would be a valuable asset in this case. Your insight might mean the difference for us being able to locate and recover Agent Hamilton in time.”

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